The Heart of the Matter: Using Standards and Assessment to Learn

Included are the tools for moving forward and using education to improve the lives of children:

• an examination of the problems of traditional standardized tests - and of the benefits of performance assessments
• an overview of how performance assessments can be created and used to serve a variety of purposes
• a discussion of standards, their strengths and weaknesses, and ways to assess them for worthy goals and opportunities for appropriate, effective practices
• guidelines for developing and organizing standards-based curriculum and assessment
• ways to use standards and assessments to enhance professional learning and to create a coherent, schoolwide educational program.